Acoustical ceiling system



Dec. 29 1970 w w, THOMPSON 3,550,341

ACOUSTICAL CEILING SYSTEM Filed May 19. 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 B A B A B A INVENTOR. WALTER W. THOMPSON ATTORNEYS Dec. 29, 1970 w, w, THOMPSON 3,550,341

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ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,550,341 ACOUSTICAL CEILING SYSTEM Walter W. Thompson, Box 627, Hazlehurst, Ga.

Filed May 19, 1969, Ser. No. 825,566 Int. Cl. E04b /55 US. Cl. 52488 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved ceiling system having a concealed system of longitudinal and tranverse bars for supporting the acoustical panels.

Another object is to provide an acoustical ceiling system wherein the alternate rows of panels are supported from longitudinal bars extending along the sides thereof, and transverse bars connected to the longitudinal bars provide the sole support for the acoustical panels in the remaining rows.

Another object is to provide an acoustical ceiling system in which the panels may be quickly and easily installed and just as easily removed from an installation.

Another object is to provide an acoustical panel construction having novel means for snapping the panels into assembled relation in an overhead grid system.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an acoustical ceiling system seen from below and constructed in accordance with my invention.

FIG. 2 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation taken substantially on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation taken substantially on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view with parts in elevation taken substantially on the line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a longitudinal bar and a transverse bar prior to assembly.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the bottom pan of one of the panels.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the ceiling structure is composed of individual separable rectangular panels 12 and 14. The panels 12 are arranged in alternate rows A and the panels 14 are arranged in the remaining rows B. The bottom surfaces of all of the panels are in a common horizontal plane.

The panels 12 are identical to one another and in the form shown each may have a sheet metal front facing 18 and a sheet metal rear facing 20 which is parallel to and spaced above the front facing. The front facing may, if desired, be and preferably is perforated. While the interior of the panel may vary, a honeycomb structure 22 is shown sandwiched between the facings. The honeycomb may be formed of a cardboard material and together with the facings 18 and 20 provides a strong composite panel structure which resists bending or twisting. A heat-insulating and sound-absorbing material 24 which may be formed of glass, wool or wood fibers fills the cells of the honeycomb 22.

3,550,341 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 "Ice The sides of the front facing 18 are turned upwardly to provide side walls 26. The side walls 26 are disposed at right angles to the front facing and terminate approximately midway between the front and back facings in laterally outwardly extending supporting flanges 28. The sides of the rear facing 20 are turned downwardly to provide side walls 30. The side walls 30 extend at right angles to the rear facing and extend along the inner sides of the side walls 26.

The ends of the panels 12 are clearly shown in FIG. 4. As there seen, the rear facing has no downturned wall and simply terminates at the two ends of the panel leaving the honeycomb and insulating material exposed. The front facing has one end turned up to provide a right angle flange 35 and the other end turned up to provide a right angle flange 36 which terminates in a downwardly returnbent portion 37 forming an inverted U-shaped hook 38 which is adapted to hook over the flange 35 on the opposite end of an adjacent panel 12. When the panels 12 are lined up with one another end to end in the rows A, the rear facings 20 overlap as shown and the hooks 38 engage over the flanges 35. The open ends of the panels abut one another and the exposed sound-absorbing material at the open ends makes contact to prevent sound leakage.

The panels 14 are identical to one another and each has a sheet metal front facing 40 and a sheet metal rear facing 42 which is parallel to and spaced above the front facing. The front facing may be and preferably is perforated. A honeycomb structure 43 may be sandwiched between the facings. The honeycomb may be formed of the same material as that employed in panels 12, and the cells thereof are preferably filled with a heat-insulating and sound-absorbing material 44 like that employed in panels 12.

The front facing 40 of the panels 14 has laterally outward extensions 46 on the sides which are turned up to provide right angle strengthening flanges 48. The rear facing 42 along its side edges is turned downwardly at a right angle to provide side walls 50 which are turned outwardly at 52 to extend in surface-to-surface relation with the extensions 46 and then turned upwardly at 54 along the inner sides of the flanges 48.

The front facing of each panel 14 at one end is turned upwardly at a right angle to provide an end wall 56 which is then turned outwardly substantially mid-way between the front and rear facings at a right angle to provide a supporting flange 58. The rear facing 42 at this same end of the panel 14 is turned downwardly at a right angle to provide an end wall 60 which extends along the inner surface of the end wall 56.

The other end of each panel 14 has the rear facing 42 bent downwardly at an angle as indicated at 62. The front facing at this end is bent upwardly at a right angle to provide an end flange 64. The end flange 64 is provided with a plurality of laterally spaced flexible, resilient clips 66 of the form shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. The clips 66 have a first portion 68 integral with the end flange 64 which inclines upwardly and inwardly over and at substantially the same angle as the end portion 62 of the rear facing, a second portion 70 extending substantially vertically upwardly from the first portion, and a third portion 72 extending upwardly and inwardly at substantially the same or a slightly greater angle than the first portion 68. The second portions 70 are formed with tangs 74 which are struck out from the material thereof and extend downwardly and outwardly from and at substantially the same angle as the third portion 72.

The acoustical ceiling system also includes a plurality of horizontal laterally spaced parallel elongated longitudinally extending bars The longitudinal bars 80 are of identical construction. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the elongated bars 80, while equally spaced, are arranged in pairs with the bars of each pair having their lower horizontal flanges 82 turned toward one another.

Each bar 80 is of the cross section shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, having a flat vertical main section 84 provided with an open return-bent bead or flange 86 along its upper edge. The flange 82 extends laterally at right angles to the main section 84 of the bar and is return bent upon itself as shown in order to strengthen the same. The bars 80 are suspended from a permanent overhead ceiling structure by means of hangers, not shown, which may be in the form of cords or wires. The bars 80 are thus supported at suitable intervals along their length in parallel relation to one another so that their flanges 82 occupy the same horizontal plane.

The spacing between adjacent longitudinal bars 80 may, if desired, be maintained by suitable cross members 92. These cross members have notches 94 on their undersides into which the beads 86 along the upper edges of the bars 80 fit. The cross members 92 may merely rest upon adjacent bars in the manner shown to maintain a proper spacing therebetween.

The panels 12 in the rows A are supported from the bars 80 along the two sides thereof by having their side flanges 28 rest upon the flanges 82 of the bars 80. The panels 12 are similarly oriented, and one end of each panel in the row has its hook 38 engaged over the flange 35 on the end of the adjacent panel.

In the rows B, the panels 14 are supported by the transverse bars 100. The cross section of the transverse bars 100 is similar to the longitudinal bars having a main vertical section 102 but without the open bead at the top. Along the lower edge of each vertical section 102 there is a lateral right angle flange 106 return bent upon itself. The return-bent portion of the flange 106 is different than in the case of the longitudinal bars in that it is extended as indicated to form a horizontal lip or flange 107 for a purpose which will become apparent. These transverse bars 100 are disposed at longitudinally spaced intervals in the mm B and extend at right angles to the longitudinal bars 80. The transverse bars 100 are arranged so that the flanges of all of the bars extend in the same direction.

The connection between the transverse bars 100 and longitudinal bars 80 is clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. The ends of the transverse bars have extensions or tabs 110 disposed in the plane of the flat vertical section 102 and provided with notches 112 along the top and bottom edges thereof. These tabs 110 are formed to fit into special slots 114 provided in the longitudinal bars 80. Each slot 114 has an upper portion provided with a vertical wall 115 and a flaring wall 116 inclined in an upward direction away from the vertical wall. There is a horizontal wall 117 at the upper end of the vertical wall which extends to an extension portion 118 of the slot formed as a continuation of the inclined wall 116. Each slot also has a lower portion provided with a vertical wall 119 and flaring wall 120 inclined downwardly and away from the vertical wall 119 and connected thereto by a horizontal wall 121. The flaring walls 116 and 120 are substantially parallel although slightly offset. The distance between the horizontal walls 117 and 121 is only slightly greater than the distance between the bottoms of the notches 112 so that the transverse bars are locked in upright position as seen in FIG. 3 when mounted on the longitudinal bars with their tabs inserted in the slots 114. The vertical walls 115 and 119 of the slots locate the transverse bars in vertical planes. To remove a transverse bar it is simply rotated clockwise in FIG. 3, so that the tabs extend into the extensions 118 of the slots, and then by a slight shifting movement the transverse bars may be withdrawn from the slots.

The panels 14 are supported by the transverse bars alone. One end of each panel 14 is supported by its flange 58 resing upon the flange 106 of a transverse bar 100. The other end of each panel 14 is supported by its clips engaging the lip 107 of the lower flange of an adjacent transverse bar. The panels 14 of course are similarly oriented as in FIG. 3. A panel 14 is installed by elevating one end so that its flange 58 rests upon the flange 106 of a transverse bar and then the other end is elevated onto the plane of the ceiling until the clips 66 snap over the lip 107 as seen in FIG. 3. During this latter movement, the tangs 74 are flexed downward by the lip 107 and then snap over the lip to support the panel in the manner shown in FIG. 3.

The panels or any one of them may be easily removed from the installation. Thus a panel 12 may be removed by tipping it endwise to unhook it from the adjacent panels and by elevating and then tipping it sidewise to remove the flanges 28 from supporting engagement with the longitudinal bars and permit the disengaged panel to be lowered from the ceiling assembly. A panel 14 may be readily removed by simply lifting the end having the flange 58 away from supporting engagement with the flange 106 of the transverse bar whereupon the clips 66 will readily be disengaged from lips 107 to permit the panel to be lowered from the assembly.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An acoustical ceiling system comprising a plurality of laterally spaced, parallel, longitudinal bars, a row of panels in each alternate space between bars supported by the adjacent bars, a plurality of longitudinally spaced transverse bars in the remaining spaces between said longitudinal bars and terminally connected to said longitudinal bars, a row of panels in each of said remaining spaces, one of the second-mentioned panels being disposed between each two successive transverse bars, said second-mentioned panels being solely supported by said transverse bars, each of said second-mentioned panels having at least one clip on one end thereof releasably engageable with an adjacent transverse bar.

2. The acoustical ceiling system defined in claim 1, wherein each transverse bar has an extended lip, and said clips are resilient and are adapted to snap over said extended lips to rest thereon in response to an upward movement of said one end of said second-mentioned panels relative to said transverse bars.

3. The acoustical ceiling system defined in claim 1, wherein said transverse bars have generally horizontal flanges extending to one side thereof, said second-mentioned panels have generally horizontal flanges at the opposite end thereof resting upon said generally horizontal flanges of said transverse bars, said transverse bars having extended lips at the opposite side thereof, and said clips being resilient and having tangs adapted to snap over said extended lips to rest thereon in response to an upward movement of said one end of said second-mentioned panels relative to said transverse bars.

4. An acoustical ceiling system comprising a plurality of laterally spaced, parallel, longitudinal bars, each bar having a laterally extending flange, the flanges of successive pairs of bars extending toward one another, a row of panels between the bars of each pair having flanges on the opposite sides thereof resting upon the flanges of said bars for the support of said panels, a plurality of longitudinally spaced transverse bars disposed in the spaces between said pairs of longitudinal bars and terminally connected to said longitudinal bars, a row of panels in each of said spaces, one of the second-mentioned panels being disposed between each two successive transverse bars, each transverse bar having a flange extending to one side thereof, said second-mentioned panels having flanges at one end resting upon said flanges of said transverse bars, said transverse bars having extended lips at the opposite side thereof, each second-mentioned panel having at least one clip at the opposite end thereof, and said clips being resilient and having tangs adapted to snap over said extended lips to rest thereon in response to an upward movement of said other ends of said second-mentioned panels relative to said transverse bars.

5. The acoustical ceiling system defined in claim 4, wherein the first-mentioned panels are formed of front and rear facings having acoustical material therebetween, the ends of the first-mentioned panels being open and the acoustical material at said open ends being in contact with the acoustical material at the open ends of adjacent firstmentioned panels, said rear facings at said open ends of adjacent first-mentioned panels overlapping one another.

6. The acoustical ceiling system defined in claim 4, wherein said second-mentioned panels are formed of front and rear facings with acoustical material therebetween, said clips being formed as integral extensions of said front facings.

7. The acoustical system defined in claim 4 wherein said clips have upwardly extending portions terminating at their upper ends in upwardly and inwardly inclined portions, said tangs being struck from said upwardly ex- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,204,383 9/1965 Adams 52-488X 3,333,387 8/1967 Deakins 52--475X 3,356,402 12/1967 Smith 52664X 3,400,506 9/1968 Thompson 52488X PRICE C. FAW, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 52-497, 667 

